Who Fancies a New Set of VBCW Rules

[Kommando_J]

Wasn’t the fantasy style “Operation Sea Lion” their crack at VBCW?

It was kind of, as I noted above it doesn't actually work for most collections, not to mention a good few units in the book have no  minis at all.

One thing I notes as well is that potentially the gangster list from the second book (operation gigant) has the potential for more firearms than a militia list.

[flags_of_war]

Pete, as i have said i'd love to be involved and give my views on the situation in Scotland

[Smillie]

After an extraordinarily long break from VBCW I could be tempted...

[Splod]

Well it's all been very quiet in here...

Any news to speak of? I did have a brief chat with the lads at Footsore who suggested the VBCW range was on the backburner with plans to revitalise it with a ruleset. Could that be connected to this perchance?

[Metternich]

Just noting sadly that a "what if" conflict gets so much love (rules, figures, "reference" books of uniforms) while real conflicts of the post-WW 1 period (independence conflicts in the Baltics; Spartacist revolution in Germany; Greco- Turkish war; Russo-Polish War, etc.) are relatively slighted

[Splod]

Just noting sadly that a "what if" conflict gets so much love (rules, figures, "reference" books of uniforms) while real conflicts of the post-WW 1 period (independence conflicts in the Baltics; Spartacist revolution in Germany; Greco- Turkish war; Russo-Polish War, etc.) are relatively slighted

Interesting that that's the case really; maybe the VBCW is particularly attractive to gamers because it is ahistorical? It gives them something to connect to being in a familiar setting, without having to rely on facts or adhere to specific OOB? Possibly in the same way that the Fantasy and Sci-Fi games always seem to attract a bigger audience than historical games?

[Ewan]

Just noting sadly that a "what if" conflict gets so much love (rules, figures, "reference" books of uniforms) while real conflicts of the post-WW 1 period (independence conflicts in the Baltics; Spartacist revolution in Germany; Greco- Turkish war; Russo-Polish War, etc.) are relatively slighted

Empress Miniatures have an ever increasing range of German revolution figures https://www.empressminiatures.com/german-revolution-63-c.asp

Siberia Miniatures have a very good range of Polish and Russian figures for the Russo-Polish War
http://siberia-miniatures.ru/index.php?cPath=41_39_51_155

Osprey has recently released Armies of the Baltic Independence Wars 1918–20 https://ospreypublishing.com/armies-of-the-baltic-independence-wars-1918-20  And it looks like they will be releasing next year in their campaign series Warsaw 1920 https://ospreypublishing.com/blog/Big_Reveal_2019_CAM

Wargames Illustrated from February 2019 has articles on the following
THEME: A WARGAMER’S WHISTLE STOP TOUR OF THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR
Roger Castle provides a beginner’s guide to one of the most colourful and confusing Inter-War conflicts.
THEME: WARGAMING THE POLISH-SOVIET WAR 1919-20
Steve Blease introduces us to an Inter-War conflict that checked Soviet plans for European domination, but offers a great deal of tabletop potential.
THEME: INTER-WAR PERIOD MINIATURES (1918-1939)
In support of this month’s theme, we take a look at some of the figures available for the Inter-War period.
https://www.wargamesillustrated.net/shop/wi376-february-2019/

The December 2018 edition https://www.wargamesillustrated.net/shop/wi374-december-2018/
THEME: INTERWAR WARRIOR
Our theme hero Adrian Carton de Wiart was far from quiet between World War One and Two. In this article, Dom Sore explores the eastern European conflicts that ACdW became embroiled in and suggests how to bring them to the tabletop.

As the 100th anniversaries of the various conflicts start to come about I'm sure they will get books, magazine articles and hopefully figures produced for them.

[Splod]

Siberia Miniatures have a very good range of Polish and Russian figures for the Russo-Polish War
http://siberia-miniatures.ru/index.php?cPath=41_39_51_155

I'd never seen Siberia Miniatures before! Those Boy Scouts are fantastic for VBCW! 

[Ewan]

I'd never seen Siberia Miniatures before! Those Boy Scouts are fantastic for VBCW! 

Some of mine painted up and they fit in nicely with the 1st Corps figures 😊

[Charley Bourne]

The issue for me isn't rules as such, it's the VBCW specific adaptions.

Rather than seeing a new set of rules, which I can't help feeling has an element of reinventing the wheel (or at least cobbling together elements of several wheels), I'd rather see a VBCW 'bolt on' / adaption that could be applied to existing, well tested and popularly used rules.

So for example, I prefer to use Bolt Action v.1 (Aly Morrison produced an excellent mod for this). It could do with:

1) Something that adds the VBCW element of fun and 'wackiness' - e.g. cards etc

2) Adaptions that allow for more firearms in the Sealion / Gigant list. I really like the fact that VBCW army lists are built around fluff rather than maxing out on power but I'm also primarily drawn to what the figure ranges offer. Most of the figures I prefer have guns - I buy them first then try to figure out how to get them into an army list.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

So for example, I prefer to use Bolt Action v.1 (Aly Morrison produced an excellent mod for this). It could do with:

Linkie?

[Charley Bourne]

I can’t find a specific link but if you type the following into Google:

al morrison bolt action vbcw army list

It brings up a link to Scribd which looks like the pic attached.

[levied troop]

1) Something that adds the VBCW element of fun and 'wackiness' - e.g. cards etc

It is that wackiness and the ‘local’ aspect that drives the attraction for U.K. gamers (and variants like Very French Civil War ) but seriously, event cards are very easy to add into any existing ruleset. I made up a set for our Ayton game based on Went The Day Well (which has its own event cards anyway but we wanted even more wackiness) which took me about half a day.

[Charley Bourne]

event cards are very easy to add into any existing ruleset.

This hits the nail on the head for me. Isn’t it adaption to existing (tried and tested) rulesets that we need rather than a new ruleset?

One of the major draws to VBCW is that it’s a concept for you to tailor to your own desire rather than a game itself.

[Splod]

Event cards are great at adding character through random events, however I feel they are no substitute to a well-designed rule-set tailored to a conflict.

Looking at VBCW, the hallmarks for me are bands of poorly trained irregulars or second line military units fighting for a political or social cause. This means any game would need to represent pre-radio command and control, troop quality and morale, as well as limited supply.

I would not consider adding VBCW event cards and an army list to a game like 40k or FoW to be a suitable replacement for a tailored VBCW ruleset.